Victoria's Cimarron District

Why Cimarron Is One of the Safest, Highest Parts of Victoria, Texas

I live in the Cimarron subdivision in north Victoria and one thing I’ve learned over the years is that Cimarron sits on some of the best high ground in the entire city. Most of Victoria is around 70–90 feet above sea level, but Cimarron is consistently in the 95–110 foot range. It’s one of the few parts of town that naturally drains well and stays dry no matter what the weather does.

Modern maps and elevation data confirm what longtime residents already know: Cimarron is built on a natural rise. The terrain slopes downward toward Airline, Salem, and the old creek basins, which means stormwater runs away from this neighborhood instead of toward it.

The proof is in the major weather events that have hit Victoria. The 1998 flood (Tropical Storm Charley) was one of the worst water disasters in city history. Many areas near Ben Jordan, Moody, and low-lying parts of the city took on serious water. Cimarron, on the other hand, came through that event completely dry—no flooded homes, no damaged foundations, and no evacuations. The water simply never reached this part of town.

The same thing happened during Hurricane Harvey in 2017. Harvey caused widespread river flooding along the Guadalupe and inundated parks, boat ramps, and low-lying roads. But Cimarron stayed high and dry again. At most, there was minor temporary street pooling in a few spots, but no home flooding and no structural problems.

This isn’t luck—it’s geography and construction. Houses in Cimarron were built with good slab heights, solid drainage, and sit far enough from the Guadalupe that back-river flooding cannot reach them. Combine that with the natural elevation of the land, and Cimarron is one of the safest residential areas in Victoria when it comes to storms, runoff, and flooding.

Bottom line: Cimarron has a long, proven record of staying dry through the worst that South Texas weather can deliver. If you want a neighborhood in Victoria that’s reliably protected from flooding, this is it.

The contrast during Hurricane Harvey made all of this even clearer to me. A friend of mine was living near the Guadalupe River when Harvey hit, and he couldn’t even drive anywhere near his home for weeks. The river had risen so high that whole stretches of road were underwater, bridges were closed, and entire neighborhoods near the old floodplain were inaccessible. He ended up staying with me in Cimarron for a couple of months because he couldn’t safely return or even reach his property. While the river areas of Victoria were swallowed up by floodwater, Cimarron remained completely dry, fully accessible, and unaffected. It served as a refuge for people who weren’t so fortunate, which tells you something about the natural elevation and safety of this part of town.

One thing many people forget about Hurricane Harvey is how much Cimarron ended up functioning as an informal “high-ground shelter” for the rest of Victoria. Because Cimarron sits on naturally elevated land, stayed completely dry, and never lost road access, a lot of households here took in friends, relatives, and coworkers who lived near the Guadalupe River or other low-lying areas. Entire neighborhoods near the river were cut off for weeks, and some residents couldn’t safely reach their homes for months. Meanwhile, Cimarron remained fully livable and accessible throughout the entire crisis.

It wasn’t just one or two homes doing this—many people in Cimarron housed guests during the aftermath of Harvey. The subdivision’s elevation, strong drainage, and distance from the river made it one of the only areas in Victoria that stayed fully functional. That real-world performance is a major reason Cimarron continues to be regarded as one of the safest and most reliable neighborhoods in the city when it comes to flooding and storm resilience.